ResMed announces primary results for CAT-HF sleep apnoea trial

ResMed has announced primary results from a multicentre, randomised controlled phase II trial—CAT-HF—presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s 2016 Annual Heart Failure Congress.

CAT-HF assessed whether the treatment of moderate to severe sleep-disordered breathing (obstructive or central sleep apnoea) with adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) therapy could improve cardiovascular outcomes in patients who have been hospitalised for a sudden worsening of their heart failure symptoms (acute decompensated heart failure) over six months.

The results of the trial were presented as a late-breaking presentation by Christopher M O’Connor, the principal investigator of the study and chief executive officer and executive director of the Inova Heart and Vascular Institute (Falls Church, USA).

Cardiovascular outcomes were defined in the trial by a Global Rank Score primary endpoint that included survival free from cardiovascular hospitalisation and improvement in functional capacity as measured by the six-minute walk distance.

However, a pre-specified subgroup analysis showed a statistically significant improvement in the primary endpoint for people with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction who have sleep-disordered breathing (based on a HR=0.38, 95% CI = (0.15, 0.98), p-value=0.045).

“These results are important because they are the first to show that addressing sleep-disordered breathing with ASV therapy may improve cardiovascular outcomes for people with preserved ejection fraction heart failure,” said ResMed chief medical officer, Glenn Richards.

CAT-HF is the second randomised controlled ResMed-sponsored study examining the role of treating sleep-disordered breathing in people with heart failure. Last year, results were published from a phase IV study known as SERVE-HF that showed ASV therapy should not be used for patients with predominant central sleep apnoea and symptomatic chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

CAT-HF was designed to address a different scientific question of whether cardiovascular outcomes could be improved with ASV therapy after hospitalisation for sudden worsening symptoms for people with both preserved and reduced heart failure who also have either obstructive or central sleep apnoea.

“There are no level of evidence 1A guideline recommended therapies specific for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, which accounts for half of all people living with chronic heart failure,” O’Connor said. “These results from CAT-HF suggest we need to study the role of whether addressing sleep-disordered breathing can help people who have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.”